1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to managing a person""s health through a medicine cabinet with a computer system connected to the Internet. More particularly, the invention provides methods and systems for managing a person""s medicine cabinet with a computer system connected to the Internet.
2. Related Information
Typical medicine cabinets merely provide a mechanism for storing a person""s medication. When the medicine cabinet is located in a house in which a family resides, it is not unusual for the medicine cabinet to contain medications for different members of the household. This presents the possibility that one person may take medication inadvertently that is prescribed for a different person. Also, it is not unusual that a person will forget to have a prescription refilled until he takes the last pill of his medication.
With today""s busy lifestyles, people often take their medications at the wrong time or in the wrong amount. Furthermore, people are often not aware of new warnings about adverse effects and drug interactions for different medications. It is known that one-third of emergency room visits are caused by noncompliance regarding the taking of medication.
It is also inconvenient and time consuming to arrange visits with a person""s doctor or other health entity. As a result many people do not regularly consult with their doctor regarding medical problems, and do not keep their doctor up-to-date on their own medical conditions. People typically also have very little interaction with drug companies and professional care providers.
With traditional medicine cabinets having only the function of storing medication, there is a real need in the prior art for a system which can monitor a person""s taking of medication, as well as providing medical alerts and prescription refills. It is also a drawback of the prior art that there is no convenient mechanism for a person to provide on a periodic basis vital signs such as blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, etc. to his doctor. There is also a need in the prior art for a person to be able to view their vital signs medical records. For example, a person would benefit from being able to view his historical trend charts with regards to his vital signs. This would provide an early warning to seek medical attention which is not provided by any system or mechanism in the prior art.
The present invention provides a medicine cabinet that assists users in selecting and purchasing medication. The medicine cabinet allows the user to conveniently and efficiently manage the user""s medication inventory.
In one embodiment of the present invention, by using a camera and face recognition software, the medicine cabinet can identify different persons in a household, and their special needs. For use with the medicine cabinet, the packaging for medication, such as bottles, has a label that is optically, magnetically, or electronically readable. The label contains various information about the medication. The medicine cabinet has sensors that can read these labels on the medication and store this information. The medicine cabinet also has sensors that can detect how many pills or other units of medication are contained in a bottle of medication. Thus, the medicine cabinet is able to identify each drug or medication and alert a user if that user has taken the wrong bottle out of the medicine cabinet. Furthermore, the medicine cabinet can alert the user that it is not time to take this particular medication, or that the medication was only just recently taken by this user. Thus, the medicine cabinet assists the user in avoiding not following his doctor""s orders or taking the wrong medication.
The medicine cabinet also can suggest or remind a person to take medication based on environmental conditions. The medicine cabinet in one embodiment provides information such as the day""s pollen count, and reminds a person to take their appropriate allergy medication. The medicine cabinet also enables users to monitor vital signs, such as blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol levels. Via the Internet, this information can be forwarded to the user""s doctor and also via the Internet the medicine cabinet can have prescriptions refilled at a pharmacy. The medicine cabinet can detect changes in a person""s vital signs that exceed predetermined thresholds and then suggest that the user make an appointment with a doctor. Via the connection to the Internet the users are able to make appointments directly through the medicine cabinet with their doctor""s office. Alternatively, it is possible for the user to set up a videoconference with their doctor via the medicine cabinet. The use of video conferencing would cut down on routine doctor visits, saving time and money for consumers, doctors, and insurance companies.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the advantages of the present invention are realized by a method of aiding the user in selection of medication. In this method medication that is stored in a medicine cabinet is automatically identified. When a first item of medication has been removed from the medicine cabinet, it is also automatically identified. The medicine cabinet then automatically determines if the first item of medication that is removed from the medicine cabinet is a correct medication. The information is then presented and is indicative of a result of determining if this first item of medication is a correct medication. For identifying the medication the label is read and the number of units of medication is determined for this medication. In another embodiment, when the number of units falls below a predetermined number, a request is automatically sent to a medication supplier for a refill of this particular medication. The medicine cabinet is also able to identify a user using face recognition or fingerprint recognition software and is able to then inform the user if a selected medication is correct. The medicine cabinet also contains environmental conditions and provides information with regards to taking medication in response to the environmental conditions. The medicine cabinet keeps track of vital signs of the user as well as the amount and times when medication is taken by the user. The medicine cabinet is able to track a plurality of users and their associated medications.
In one embodiment, a radio frequency receiver is configured to read information included on radio frequency sensitive labels that are attached to items containing medication in the medicine cabinet. This information can be displayed on a display device as operatively coupled to a computer in the medicine cabinet. The computer may also be coupled to a wide area network such as the Internet.